Instrumental analysis has been used for decades upon decades, and during this time, scientists and laboratory personnel alike continue to demand more and more accuracy from their systems, instruments, and/or methods. The slightest change in alignment between analytical instrument attachments and a sample to be analyzed can require countless hours of additional research and/or lead to poor data which almost always amounts to poor conclusions.
For example, with cryogenic analysis systems such as cryogenic assemblies, researchers utilize analytical attachments to investigate samples in their frozen state. Many cryogenic researchers use analytical attachments such as optical microscopy to study single molecules. This is achieved by using a microscope objective to focus and/or collect light from a sample which is held at cryogenic temperatures. Microscope objectives are precisely manufactured chains of lenses which are conventionally designed for room-temperature use.
High light collection efficiency also requires the objective to have a very small working distance between its tip and a sample. Researchers have historically traded off objective performance for longer working distances to allow the objective to be mounted outside of the cryostat.
The present disclosure provides cryogenic assemblies and methods, embodiments of which overcome one or more of the shortcomings of the prior art.